Starcraft Declining in Korea

A shadow of depression is looming over Korea's uniquely prospering professional computer gaming league after a decade of non-stop growth.

Several professional gaming clubs are facing disbandment this year, while TV viewership ratings are stagnant on cable TV. No new games have appeared to succeed the role played by ``StarCraft,'' which alone has fed the so-called e-sports industry over the past 10 years.

Hanbit Soft, a major game publisher who owns one of 12 pro game clubs in South Korea, said last week that it wants to sell the Hanbit Stars team because of financial difficulties. The announcement shocked to the people in the gaming circle because of its contribution to the e-sports sector.

Hanbit is one of the founding members of the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) and its chief executive Kim Young-man has served as the inaugural chairman of the organization since 2001 and 2006. Hanbit was also the local distributor of ``StarCraft'' in Korea and helped two TV broadcasters ― Ongamenet and MBC Games ― settle down as the only 24-hour TV channels in the world dedicated to computer and video games.

Hanbit said Kim will resign from the CEO's post as the firm is being acquired by T3 Entertainment, an online game developer. T3 said it is considering continuing the operation of the gaming club.

``We have not yet decided whether to continue the game club's operation,'' said a T3 spokeswoman.

Adding fuel to the fire on the crisis, the Air Force said last week it will stop recruiting gamers to its Ace gaming corps. The Ace has been the only place where young professional gamers can continue their career while completing the mandatory military service ― an inevitable choice for most players because their peak time as a gamer overlaps their military conscription age.

Computer games have long been a spectator sport in South Korea where there are two game-dedicated TV channels. There are 12 professional ``StarCraft'' clubs owned or sponsored by major companies and some 400 registered pro gamers. But the growth of the so-called e-sports business has slowed from last year in line with the waning popularity of ``StarCraft.''

In 2005, Ongamenet boasted a 3.1 percent viewership rating, ranking 9th among all cable channels. However this year, its ranking dropped to 16th place, and the viewership also fell to 1.9 percent, according to research firm Nielson.

Pundits expects the e-sports industry will go through a major shakeup when Blizzard, the game company that developed ``StarCraft,'' releases its sequel this year. The U.S. firm is allegedly preparing to sell the game in Korea via its own sales network, not through a local distributor such as Hanbit.

Many in the Korean e-sports field worry that Blizzard will demand license fees from the KeSPA and cable TV networks for use of its game in professional leagues, which will add more financial burdens on the league organizers, the clubs and the industry as a whole.

The fate of e-sports rests on Blizzard's shoulders. Starcraft in Korea is by far the largest, most legitimate and most mainstream establishment of e-sports ever. If it was to collapse without a replacement, what hope is there for the future of e-sports? Starcraft II needs to become an e-sports success, or e-sports may suffer a fatal blow. Counterstrike and Halo just don't cut it for spectators.

Blizzard is either extremely smart (likely) or extremely lucky to be developing the successor right now. If the article is accurate there wouldn´t have been a better time for a sequel (economically speaking).

Note, I suspect part of the ratings drop is due to streaming online, if Nielson doesn't count that in Korea, like they don't count it in North America. Advertisers are still not yet willing to pay equal money for equal time on Internet streams, even if they can reach as many viewers as TV.

This doesn't come as a huge shock to me, I just want to know where "Blizzard, the game company that developed ``StarCraft,'' releases its sequel this year."Probably just some BS fact they came up with unless I missed something huge?

On May 21 2008 07:26 Unentschieden wrote:Blizzard is either extremely smart (likely) or extremely lucky to be developing the successor right now. If the article is accurate there wouldn´t have been a better time for a sequel (economically speaking).

Blizzard really is cutting it close. Releasing Starcraft 2 just as Starcraft is starting to decline, to gloriously succeed it and reinvigorate e-sports. Let's hope that they really were clever enough to have been planning this all along, because it would mean that they are seriously considering e-sports in their development. Starcraft 2 really needs to come out soon, because if Starcraft declines too far, it may be impossible to revive the e-sports scene.

ICCUP cited them, which is how I found them. It also sounds completely reasonable that Airforce Ace will get canned when Boxer leaves, considering that he is the main attraction and their team is always dead last.

This goes against everything else I have read regarding e-sports in Korea. I mean, OK maybe hanbit is thinking of pulling the plug, but that's because they fucking suck! Didn't the last OSL set a new record for viewership? Isn't the GOM TV tournament the largest tournament ever? Aren't there more new players entering than ever? Isn't the foreign community (even us foreigners that watch Korean starcraft) continuing to grow? Didn't they just hire a full time English commentator? Didn't they just launch a minor league? Isn't the Korean navy also thinking about starting a team?

All those things, to me, signal that e sports, particularly brood wars, is here to stay.

I agree with this article. Koreatimes is also a reputable source as far as I know.

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On May 21 2008 07:55 Luddite wrote:This goes against everything else I have read regarding e-sports in Korea. I mean, OK maybe hanbit is thinking of pulling the plug, but that's because they fucking suck! Didn't the last OSL set a new record for viewership? Isn't the GOM TV tournament the largest tournament ever? Aren't there more new players entering than ever? Isn't the foreign community (even us foreigners that watch Korean starcraft) continuing to grow? Didn't they just hire a full time English commentator? Didn't they just launch a minor league? Isn't the Korean navy also thinking about starting a team?

All those things, to me, signal that e sports, particularly brood wars, is here to stay.

QFT(and great inspirational writing)

To change is to improve, to change often is to be perfect - Winston Chruchill

I was actually starting to think that "Starcraft" was going to break the paradigm that esports is more about game franchise sequels with new graphics.To be fair to Blizzard I think they will give us much more than this.

What this seems to show is that esports being technological in nature and having a younger audience is not immune to technological trends and generational fads. This in turn numbers the days on a particular games lifespan. Imagine Baseball,football.soccer etcetera developing this way. Korea was supposed to be the utopian model for how to make esports work and now we may see the utopia die. This truly brings into question the long term viability of esports or any esport based on a particular game.

On May 21 2008 07:55 Luddite wrote:This goes against everything else I have read regarding e-sports in Korea. I mean, OK maybe hanbit is thinking of pulling the plug, but that's because they fucking suck! Didn't the last OSL set a new record for viewership? Isn't the GOM TV tournament the largest tournament ever? Aren't there more new players entering than ever? Isn't the foreign community (even us foreigners that watch Korean starcraft) continuing to grow? Didn't they just hire a full time English commentator? Didn't they just launch a minor league? Isn't the Korean navy also thinking about starting a team?

All those things, to me, signal that e sports, particularly brood wars, is here to stay.

Totally agreed here. Hanbit pulling out (while being a long time sponsor of the scene) is sad news, yes. But Pantech/P&C were in the same boat- and that didn't spell the end for the scene. ACE withdrawing recruitment basically coincides with boxers release. It's not that grim...